alligoat

Nice group of vintage Rollies, bones! And it looks like the quality has improved over time!

I wonder how many of the turkeys over at VRF would catch on to the old 110! Looking good so far DP.

Here is a 16030 with the correct 'engine turned' bezel I guess a 16030 could also have a smooth bezel.

I agree with tomhorn that the watch originally pictured is not a 16030, or at least it''s been modded with a white gold fluted bezel and therefore more like a 16014. Finding these DJ cases on the bay is getting more difficult- prices are going up- too many franken builders! Even my DD used a 16000 case modified by Phong That is an aftermarket polished fluted ss bezel by the way- like kbh says- WG bezels are hard to come by these days at a decent price.

pearl looks good

The 93160 is not correct for this model- stick with the 93150 and either keep the 580 ends or get a set of 585 ends which are more correct. If you replace the crystal, you'll probably need a custom retaining ring from jmb- I did it and it worked out great- the watch is WR now also, but plan on spending $75-100 doing it- more if you spring for a gen crystal. Or leave the crystal as is and stay out of the water or have it tested first. trim the cgs is a must and easy to do you might have to service the 2846, but those are the breaks- it's a good old slow beat swiss movement.

yep, it looks good, but does it fit? It is a copy of a gen 16610 (16800) bezel, no doubt.

and depending on how they look with a dial, and will a movement fit in there....and which movement? But if they're like Ingod's dial, they'll be a hit.

I don't see anything that jumps out at me, the engraving looks good, I can't tell if it's a 90s replacement dial and the only way I can really tell is a movement pic, but alas, this guy isn't going to be able to do that w/o some serious help. It could be legit...

Those are both excellent watches, congrats!

I don't agree with Freddy- some early 5512s had a chapter ring and some didn't. Also, you wouldn't expect to see a 5512 with a 1530 movement, but I'm not saying it's not possible. 1560 and 1570 movements are most typical since they are chronometer grade. But as we all know, anything is possible w/ vintage Rolex. Who would have thought we'd be studying these early watches ad nausem- certainly not Rolex!

That dial is a big improvement. You might try an Ofrei pearl next.

Good looking watch D! I'm not one of those who is big on a working HE valve on a rep, but since you have the 1570 movt, maybe you should go all the way! But it's your call. I do think a PB vintage lume would be cool- I like reps/frankens that glow. How many watch aficionados do you run with anyway?

Wow! This is exciting! Suddenly I'm liking the 1680 all over again!

T-19 crystals can vary in OD from 30.3 to 30.5- look at the Sternkruz crystals Nanuq pointed out- XS303.472 XS305.451 Ofrei also lists 3-4 crystals. Best bet is to measure your crystal retaining ring ID and order something a little bit bigger for a tight fit

Looks to me like all you can salvage is the pearl. But it looks legit to me.

No, I skipped that phase. It just wasn't that big a deal to me.

That's exactly why I sent my DJ 16000 case to Phong!

Well, having just done this in stainless steel, it's not that difficult. It's a 1556 movement and an 1803 white pie-pan dial in a 16000 Datejust case. The case has to go to Phong to be modified and it's not cheap, but he's the only one doing it. Mine's an aftermarket fluted bezel with a Clark's T-118 crystal and a 24-600 crown. The hands are Clark's also. Like Valty says, these aren't cheap builds! But I'm enjoying mine!

Either way, 5512 or 5513, they're both great! And of course, we can build replicas of them which are almost as good for 1/10th of the price!

Using wet/dry is fine! Here's watchmaterial- http://www.watchmaterial.com/viewitem.asp?idProduct=1800 I guess Jewelryoutlet550 is gone- but they were the same as wholesaleoutlet990 on ebay. Also, watchbandman50 is part of that same group of thieves! Kurtyiu also has inserts for a decent price. Some guys have mentioned Clarks as having good inserts- nostalgia_ 2000 on the bay.

I've wallowed out the hole for the pearl with an x-acto knife, then glued the WM pearl in. A small set of files is what you need to reduce the OD of the insert- just go slowly and keep test fitting it. Glue it in with G-S Hypo Cement, or carefully with an epoxy- you don't want to glue the bezel so it won't turn. One other thing, BK use to file the back side of the insert so that it would sit lower in the bezel and look more gen like.

For a guy from Oklahoma City, you got to figure he has some chinese or other eastern connections. But I agree, that case needs some more finishing- like a lot!

The awareness that Rolex, rightly or wrongly, is associated with a certain kind of person in many minds –generally male, American, McMansion-owning, loud, golf-obsessed, sartorially challenged and gastronomically undiscriminating, and fond of unnecessarily large and inefficient automobiles –merely serves to confirm the prejudice that unless one wants to be taken for an illbred, reactionary lout, Rolex and all it stands for is best avoided. Damn, I resemble that remark! But luckily I fell into the third category of collecting mid priced vintage watches (and building frankens and modding reps).

Well, BK's old formula was a Jewelryoutlet550 insert with a watchmaterial pearl. You have to enlarge the pearl hole slightly for the WM pearl. Also, you have to shave the outside of the insert down a little to fit in the bezel since the old noob bezel was just a little smaller ID than gen spec.